Skywave

Abstract: [1] The Los Alamos Sferic Array (LASA) recorded VLF/LF electric-field-change signals from over ten million lightning discharges during the period from 1998 to 2001. Using the differential-times-of-arrival of lightning sferics recorded by three or more stations, the latitudes and longitudes of the source discharges were determined. Under conditions of favorable geometry and ionospheric propagation, sensors obtained ionospherically reflected skywave signals from the lightning discharges in addition to the standard groundwave sferics. In approximately 1% of all waveforms, automated processing identified two 1-hop skywave reflection paths with delays indicative of an intracloud (height greater than 5 km) lightning source origin. For these events it was possible to determine both the height of the source above ground and the virtual reflection height of the ionosphere. Ionosphere heights agreed well with published values of 60 to 95 km with an expected diurnal variation. Source height determinations for 100,000+ intracloud lightning events ranged from 7 to 20 km AGL with negative-polarity events occurring above ∼15 km and positive-polarity events occurring below ∼15 km. The negative-polarity events are at a suprisingly high altitude and may be associated with discharges between the upper charge layer of a storm and a screening layer of charge above the storm. Approximately 100 of the intracloud events with LASA height determinations were also recorded by VHF receivers on the FORTE satellite. Independent FORTE source height estimates based on delays between direct and ground-reflected radio emissions showed excellent correlation with the VLF/LF estimates, but with a +1 km bias for the VLF/LF height determinations.

Abstract: Preface 1. Basic principles of the ionosphere 2. Geophysical phenomena influencing the high-latitude ionosphere 3. Fundamentals of terrestrial radio propagation 4. Radio techniques for probing the ionosphere 5. The high-latitude F region and the trough 6. The aurora, the substorm and the E region 7. The high-latitude D region 8. High-latitude radio propagation: part I - fundamentals and early results 9. High-latitude radio propagation: part II - modeling, prediction and mitigation of problem Appendix: some books for general reading Index.

Abstract: The engineering of radio systems requires an estimate of the power loss between the transmitter and the receiver. Such estimates are affected by many factors, including reflections, fading, refraction in the atmosphere, and diffraction over the earth's surface. In this paper, radio transmission theory and experiment in all frequency bands of current interest are summarized. Ground wave and sky wave transmission are included, and both line of sight and beyond horizon transmission are considered. The principal emphasis is placed on quantitative charts that are useful for engineering purposes

Abstract: This paper presents an overview of ship detection by high-frequency (HF) skywave backscatter over-the-horizon radar (OTHR). Ships have been detected at ranges of 2000 km or more by OTHR that uses sufficient resolution in the radar spatial and Doppler frequency domains. The HF sea-echo Doppler spectrum limits the target signal-to-clutter ratio (SCR), as a function of the ocean wave-height distribution, wind direction, radio frequency, and ship target radial velocity. Maximum sea-clutter spectrum purity, and hence larger SCR, is achieved with the use of stable single-mode ionospheric propagation. Real-time measurement and interpretation of ionospheric propagation features therefore must guide the choice of OTHR operating frequency. Experimental data recorded at the ONR/SR1 Wide Aperture Research Facility (WARF) bistatic OTHR in central California demonstrate reliable ship detection in the Northeast Pacific Ocean. WARF transmits 1-MW average effective radiated power, using a linear frequency-modulated continuous-wave (FMCW) waveform, and receives with a 2.55-km broadside array of vertical monopole element pairs. Swept bandwidths as high as 200 kHz have been used. Sufficient spectral resolution is achieved with a coherent integration time (CIT) of 12.8 s. Longer CIT, and autoregressive (AR) spectral analysis techniques such as Marple's algorithm, have been used to improve Doppler resolution.